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I don’t often rely on scheduled posts, but had some spare time and last week and set up two posts to be published on schedule. In the past, this feature in WordPress worked without a hitch. After the upgrade to 2.9, it seems that the scheduling of post publication may cease to function under certain conditions.

Exactly what the cause of the issue is is not clear, though it’s most likely due to incompatibilities with certain hosts. The WordPress team has released version 2.9.1 in an attempt to fix the issue.

If you see this post, the scheduling bug has been fixed for me In that case, I recommend you upgrade to 2.9.1 if you’ve been experiencing a similar problem.

Updating a version of WordPress is a simple matter of clicking a button – the currently installed version even indicates whether or not a newer version has been made available. I tried the update once or twice but was stumped by an error that indicated a lack of memory.

The error relates to the PHP processor and has nothing to do with WordPress itself. There are a couple of possible fixes, but which one to apply depends very much on the type of access one has to the WordPress installation one is attempting to upgrade. In most hosted setups, there is no chance of editing the .htaccess file to add a memory parameter in the form php_value memory_limit 256MB, or to modify an entry in the PHP.ini file to change the memory limit by way of the parameter memory_limit = 256M;

The easiest means of fixing the upgrade procedure in my case was to ssh to my blog’s hosted system and to add a parameter to the wp-config.php. I added the following: define(’WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’);. That provides 256MB to the PHP processor and should hopefully cater for future upgrades to WordPress whenever those come along.

The change to the file is all that is required – after that, the update to 2.9 worked without a hitch.

Once again, the update to WordPress is highly recommended – the amount of time the update takes is negligible and will ensure that all the latest security patches are present.

The latest version of the popular blogging and content management platform, WordPress has been released. Version 2.9 is a significant update that introduces a fair number of interesting and useful features. Whilst much has been made of recent attacks against WordPress-based blogs, I’m still firmly of the opinion that WordPress is a great piece of software that performs incredibly well – not caring to update software should not be the basis of an argument against deficiencies that have been eradicated in newer versions. There’s little sympathy for those users of operating systems running afoul of virus attacks and bugs that have been sorted out in service packs or updates. The same should be true of all software. If a platform is important to you, you’ll make sure you keep it up to date for performance and accessibility reasons. That’s my point of view. As a last argument, the update procedure for WordPress is as simple as a single click in the newer versions – hardly requiring a huge amount of work or effort…

Back to Carmen. WordPress 2.9 introduces the following features that should make posting entries a bit easier and more convenient:

• global undo to provide a way of retrieving entries deleted by mistake
• a built-in image editor to crop, rotate and manipulate images directly in WordPress without the requirement for a desktop solution
  
• update of plugins by way of batch instead of individually

The software is available for download here, or should already be flagged as an update in your existing WordPress installation. I’ll need to back things up around here, then get going with the update. For a full list of fhe 500+ fixes and enhancements, see the WordPress blog.

The observant folk among you will have noticed that I’ve finally changed the look of the blog. The blue, Mac-style theme was growing a bit long in the tooth.

The new theme is a rather attractive free theme from Web-kreation. It is called OneRoom and lends a change of colour and layout to the site.

There’s some work to be done. Sloppily, I haven’t yet had the time to update my own header image and to make sure it’s positioned correctly. I also need to do some work on the sidebar and a few other changes.

In addition to the installation of the theme, a whole bunch of updates to the plug-ins I use have been completed. I’ve once again reinstated the mobile themes, so the site should display appropriately formatted content for a variety of mobile devices.

As promised, the WordPress team has released the latest version of the popular blogging software. The code name for the version is Baker, named for the noted trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker.

Here’s a list of the highlights available in 2.8:

• Theme Browser and Installer
• Ability to add Custom Headers
• New drag-and-drop widgets admin interface and new Widgets API
• New ways to customize dashboard widgets
• Syntax highlighting and function lookup built into plugin and theme editors
• Configurable Views on Management Pages.
• Faster Loading Admin Pages

The software is available for download here, or should already be flagged as an update in your existing WordPress installation. I’ll need to back things up around here, then get going with the update.

I’m not sure what the codename for the new WordPress release 2.8 is, but that doesn’t really matter. The good news is that the new version of everyone’s favourite CMS should be available next week, probably on 10 June.

Here’s a list of the highlights 2.8 is promised to feature:

• Theme Browser and Installer
• Ability to add Custom Headers
• New drag-and-drop widgets admin interface and new Widgets API
• New ways to customize dashboard widgets
• Syntax highlighting and function lookup built into plugin and theme editors
• Configurable Views on Management Pages.
• Faster Loading Admin Pages

The installer and browser for themes is likely to make WordPress even more accessible to those who are not that well-versed with the installation of themes and modifying the base code to alter WordPress‘ look and feel. A native viewport for the iPhone in the login screen is a nice addition to those on the move. The syntax highlighting feature sounds good and should go a long way in assisting with the prevention of obvious errors when editing files.

For more detailed information on WordPress 2.8, check out that version’s codex on the official site. The second beta is available for those wanting to get a first glimpse of this release.

For about a week now, this site has been running the latest and greatest WordPress release: 2.7. The reason for upgrading only recently is the same as always: hosting providers support installations using Fantastico, a super-easy way of installing and upgrading software components on a web site. Fantastico is a commercial product, comprised of a collection of scripts and running on the cPanel platform.

Though the installation and upgrade of any website component using Fantastico is hassle-free, newer software versions are incorporated only much later. That means that the latest Drupal or WordPress versions are supported many months after their official release. Stability is important, and that is probably the primary reason for the lag. But for those of us keen on using the very latest the wait for Fantastico support can be frustrating.

I was rather pleased when I noticed an updated cPanel in my Hostmonster control panel. It included a new Fantastico (sans WordPress 2.7 support), but also a brand new set of icons I had not noticed before. The one that immediately caught my eye was the WordPress icon.

That icon is the gateway to a different way of maintaining a WordPress installation and no longer utilizes Fantastico. SimpleScripts perform much the same function as Fantastico, but require a conversion from Fantastico if they are to be used. The conversion is a simple click away, though a manual backup just before clicking is always a good idea (the script performs a rudimentary backup automatically).

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WordCamp SA 2008 was a success! With a good mix of presentations, heaps of geeks crammed into The Wild Fig in Cape Town’s Observatory and a guest appearance by WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg.

The presentations had a WordPress feel to them, but did not focus on the software itself. Instead, themes, plug-ins and open source and free software were discussed.

Thanks to the organizers and the sponsors! Skyrove provided free wireless access to the multitude of notebooks littering the tables and competing for power sockets. Considering the bad weather and the constant demand for bandwidth by eager twitterers and bloggers, Skyrove did a great job.

Considering the effort and cost the sponsors went to to bring attendees this event, I urge you to google them if you require their services – one good turn deserves another.

This was a worthwhile event to attend and I’m already looking forward to next year.

The new version of WordPress 2.3.1 (Dexter) appeared on the Fantastico control panel about a week ago. WordPress upgrades are generally simple affairs, requiring a single click. The rest is done in the background without any intervention.

A little after 23:00 last night I generated my final database backup and clicked the upgrade link. Everything ok, except that an annoying database error appeared above the blog header:

WordPress database error: [Table 'xyz_wrdp1.wp_post2cat' doesn't exist]
SELECT p2c.category_id AS cat_id, COUNT(p2c.rel_id) AS numposts, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(max(posts.post_date_gmt)) + ’2′ AS last_post_date, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(max(posts.post_date_gmt)) AS last_post_date_gmt FROM wp_post2cat p2c INNER JOIN wp_posts posts ON p2c.post_id=posts.id WHERE (posts.post_status=’publish’ OR posts.post_status=’static’) AND posts.post_date_gmt < = '2007-11-17 21:12:15' GROUP BY p2c.category_id ORDER BY numposts DESC

The obvious culprit is a theme or plugin that no longer conforms to the new WordPress version standards. Let’s just say this was an opportunity to kill various unused plugins from the plugins directory and to deactivate almost all others in an attempt to resolve the issue. I still haven’t identified the exact cause, but at least everything looks ok and everything seems to work.